N.S. extends $20-per-pelt bounty on coyotes

By CLARE MELLOR and DAVID JACKSON Staff ReportersPublished October 7, 2011 - 4:53am

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No information on whether incentive has reduced animal population

The Nova Scotia government says it is extending its bounty on coyotes for another trapping season, even though it doesn’t know if it has any benefit.

The province introduced a $20-a-pelt incentive last October to encourage more licensed trappers to harvest coyotes, which have been turning up in populated areas in recent years.

Natural Resources Minister Charlie Parker conceded Thursday that it is not known whether the $20 incentive is reducing the number of troublesome encounters with coyotes.

"It is too early to tell really after only a few months of the program operating, so that is why we are going to continue it a bit longer, look at all aspects of the program and review it," he said.

The pelt incentive is one piece of government’s four-part program to create public awareness and protect communities from aggressive coyotes. Other aspects include: distribute Be Coyote Smart educational material province-wide, employ a provincial wildlife conflict biologist, and hire trappers to target aggressive coyotes in specific areas.

"We are going to continue with all four (parts of the program) as we move along," Parker said.

Coyote trapping season in Nova Scotia runs from Oct. 15 to March 31.

The government paid out about $52,000 under the pelt incentive last season, with professional trappers harvesting about 2,600 coyotes, Parker said.

That is about 900 more than the previous trapping season when an incentive was not in effect, according to provincial statistics.

There were an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 coyotes in Nova Scotia before the program was introduced.

"The program is not designed to reduce the (coyote) population. It is really to create more awareness among . . . people and more wariness of the animal population towards humans," Parker said.

The number of encounters with aggressive coyotes in Nova Scotia has dropped since the program was introduced, but Natural Resources officials aren’t exactly certain why.

During April to September 2010, there were 10 incidents of coyotes showing aggression or too much familiarity with people, resulting in 32 coyotes being trapped and removed. During the same period this year, just one incident was recorded, with two animals being removed, a Natural Resources news release said Thursday.

The Trappers’ Association of Nova Scotia had written to government encouraging it to continue the pelt incentive, said Gary Fisher, association president.

"Trappers are pretty happy that it will continue at least another year. That’s for certain," Fisher said Thursday.

The incentive makes a big difference financially for trappers, and makes it more feasible for them to comply with a Natural Resources request to voluntarily turn in coyote carcasses for scientific study, he said.

And science is what may provide answers as to why some coyotes are acting aggressively, he said.

"Most trappers don’t have the cold-storage capacity to hold any amount of freshly skinned coyote carcasses, so you have to get those to the department deep-freeze as quickly as you can. In my own personal case, it costs me $12.43 just for fuel costs to get that carcass to the local depot," he said.

The pelt incentive is also encouraging younger trappers in the province to learn coyote trapping skills, he said.

There are 366 active trappers in the province, Parker said.

Simon Gadbois, a Dalhousie University scientist who studies coyotes, has been a vocal opponent of the pelt incentive, arguing no scientific evidence exists to show trapping makes coyotes more fearful of humans. He could not be reached Thursday.

Coyote encounters became a sensitive issue after a woman was killed by coyotes October 2009 in Cape Breton.

Taylor Mitchell, a singer-songwriter from Toronto, was attacked while hiking alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.